Will Obama Keep His Promises to the LGBT Community?
At first I was trying to give President Obama some space. As other gay activists grew impatient about his non-action on issues like "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" , Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and employment non-discrimination I wasn't too worried. After all, the President has some pretty big issues to deal with right now: the failing auto industry, health care reform, an economic crisis and two wars. Gay and lesbian issues can wait, right?
But as more time goes by, I'm starting to feel like a sucker. Remember the "Change we Can Believe In" signs? I did believe. I believed this one was going to be different from all those others. I heard him promise the gay community that he would repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and allow gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military. I heard him promise to repeal the DOMA. I heard him talk about enacting hate crime legislation and the permanent partners act, allowing gays and lesbians sponsor their partners for immigration. I heard and I believed.
Non-action is one thing. But defending something he said he was against? That is exactly what the Obama administration has done this week by issuing a statement in a court case challenging the DOMA. Two gay men who were married in California filed a suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. The Justice Department issued a memo that not only defended DOMA, but compared gay and lesbian relationships to those between cousins or an uncle and a niece.
He said he would repeal DOMA, now he is defending it. Can this man be trusted? Is he just another politician who told us what we wanted to hear so we would vote for him? Is this Bill Clinton all over again? (Bill Clinton claimed to be a friend of the gays, but he is the one who signed DOMA into law. He is the one who proposed "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" as a "compromise", after promising to open the military up to gay and lesbian soldiers.)
Even the traditionally conservative New York Times ran an editorial decrying the administration's stance:
The brief insists it is reasonable for states to favor heterosexual marriages because they are the "traditional and universally recognized form of marriage." In arguing that other states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages under the Constitution’s "full faith and credit" clause, the Justice Department cites decades-old cases ruling that states do not have to recognize marriages between cousins or an uncle and a niece.Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese issued a very strongly worded statement to President Obama:
"I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones."President Obama today said he is going to announce that he is going to extend domestic partnership benefits to federal employees. But what will be included in those benefits? David Mixner speculates that because of DOMA, health care and retirement benefits will be excluded.
As the 40th anniversary of Stonewall approaches, we hope that our President will do more than issue a proclamation. We want change. Change that was promised to us.
© Photo Alex Wong/Getty Images
I totally agree with you. I am sooo disgusted by Obama right now. He not only has ignored our issues, he has slapped us in the face with this defense of DOMA and this farce of granting benefits to federal workers. Without health care and retirement benefits, what did he give federal workers…not a damn thing except hope one day only to pull the rug out from under us the next!
I believe it is time for the entire gay community to revolt. We have waited decades for politicians to fight for our rights. They make promises during campaigns and NEVER deliver on any of them to us.
DOMA should be first and foremost to be challenged in every way possible. Obama says he “will work with Congress to repeal DOMA”. Well OBAMA is going to have to PUSH for Congress to even talk about that! OBAMA must lead this parade and he is NOT!
I am also sick of hearing about how many things Obama has on his plate. Yes, there are a lot of issues that need addressing, but that doesn’t excuse him from making gay rights ONE of those issues that needs addressing. We are constantly put on the back burner. During times of peace and prosperity under Clinton, we were put on the back burner. We need to be put to the forefront of this administration. Obama’s empty campaign promises to us are are just that….empty!
totally agree about Obama,his words and actions with our community have been very disappointing. However, I have to disagree with you about the New York Times. They are traditionally liberal, especially their editorial page.
Are you aware that “the rights” Obama has so graciously offered to federal employees adds nothing more than what is already being provided. I know this because my partner is a federal employee. Long term health care and sick leave for Domestic Partnerships are already on the books, but this also applies to “cousins, siblings and children living in the same household.” No wonder they consider our relationships insestuous…look where they are placing us.
He is magnanimously offering us up a used paper plate to eat our scraps from while ceremoniously throwing the entire LGBT community under the bus.
This is ignorance, and predjudice plain and simple.
Don’t you think that it’s time for a revolt?
What if every LGBT worker simply took the day off, became visible and showed the public exactly who we are. Wouldn’t that be something. Let’s all stand together and let this country know that we are not going to take it anymore. What about Jul;y 3rd? The day before “Independance Day” when the entire country celebrates our “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Check out this from “Wikipedia”;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness
The phrase “pursuit of happiness” appeared in the 1967 U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967)[3], which focused on an anti-miscegenation statute. Chief Justice Warren wrote: “The freedom to marry has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men.”
When Obama was running for office I kept telling my hopeful friends who seemed to think he was the next coming to remember Obama is a politician first and foremost. And now he is acting like one, catering to the masses to keep his popularity up.
But what doesn’t make sense is he made these promises BEFORE getting elected and still got elected. This tells one that the anti-LGBT voters didn’t concern themselves about his promises to the our community to the point it hurt his being elected. So why, after he is in office, is he balking on these same promises? It didn’t hurt his being elected then, why would it hurt his popularity now?
I realize saying something is different that doing something but voters tend to forget rather quickly. As any politician knows, it is best to push through unpopular issues early in their term because most will forget when they go up for re-election. So why is he turning his back on us now?
It doesn’t make sense, unless he is simply against LGBT equal rights.
I have come to the conclusion that being openly gay anywhere is an insult on the American way of life. At least to the general populace. I have been fired from a major department store for being a lesbian. My children, home, finances, and priviledges taken from me and given to my non-American citizen ex-husband for being a lesbian. I have been accused of many atrocities, some sexual and some non-sexual for being a lesbian. Not thinking in the “normal” conventions of what being in love and marriage is, apparently makes you a bad person capable of bad things. Too many times through broken promises, it has been made clear to me from family, friends, co-workers, the general public, and our wonderful government that someone like me and millions of others are tolerated but not accepted. Why should President Obama be any different? It would be a red letter day if all of the GLBT community in the U.S.A. camped out on the White House lawn until we were not only “tolerated” but accepted with full rights and priviledges as any free woman and man ought to have.
Like so many of us Iam sooo very,very disgusted with the Obama stance on gay rights. He promised so much and hasn’t delivered a thing. Yes, like so many of us I gave him space because of the other issues that face America.
However, I believe that now is the time for us to revolt enmasse just like we did about 40 years ago at the Stonewall Inn. I feel that it may be the only way that our voices will be heard.Maybe we should have the 40th anniversery of the Stonewall Rebellion the beginning of a new rebellion.
I’m disappointed and angry that Obama isn’t doing the things for us he said he would but I’m not really surprised. I never did trust him, simply because of some of the things he promised to do as if it was all in his power to do them. There’s very little that the
President can do on his own. Most things have to be enacted by the House and the Senate. So he was making promises that he knew he couldn’t keep unless the majority of the Congress went along with him, and he had no way of knowing if they would or not when he was campaigning. And to my way of thinking, anyone who would lie about one thing would lie about another and is not to be trusted.
Just my humble thoughts on the matter.
Sue
P.S. I voted for Hillary.
I wonder what she’d be doing now
concerning the gay issues if she’d
been elected instead of Obama.
maybe it is just me, but did anyone honestly think that any president would actually do something nice/good for the gay community? com’on people, unless it is a gay man or woman running for office, you should know nothing will happen! get us someone in there that is gay, and we will all be living the “normal all american life”
I understand that we all feel let down after all Obama’s promises, myself included. But people, He’s one man, and he’s only a few months in. The point of the current government set up is that no one person has too much power. There’s only so much Obama will be able to do if he’s having to fight against homophobics the whole way. These things also take time, folks. How long did it take to work through all those separate, nasty laws condoning racism? Certainly more than several months. I’m optimistic that Obama will pull through for us, but we have to keep faith, as cliche as that sounds. He needs the support of the people to push through an eternity of homophobia. Really, the man ain’t Hercules!
Honestly, did we just fall off the turnip truck? If you believed what Obama promised on his campaign trail, then you are either very young or very naive. Consider learning from this experience. I too voted for Hillary…it bothered me then and now, that this man would say anything to win. It bothered me more that people believed him.
I am so disappointed. His actions don’t quite jive with the exciting stances of Iowa and New England with same-sex marriages.
Gwenith is right, Obama is just a man and not Hercules. We shouldn’t expect him to change the world for us. That being said though, no one elected official should be making promises they can’t get full or majority backing of from the rest of congress and therefore is unable to commit to that promise. He can promise to do what is he is able to do but he can’t promise on behalf of others…he has to have their backing and committment first. My question is would we vote for a president who states: “I will do what I can but I can’t make any promises.” It maybe our own faults for falling for the political hype.
correction: “he can promise what he’s able to do but he can’t promise on behalf of others”…Sorry 3rd shift worker here. I blame my literary errors on being brain dead, lol.
Some friends think Obama is a closet Muslim. Now I don’t think that, but as president, he is trying to straddle the fence(which doesn’t work in the long run). Apparently, he thinks it is OK to try to please the Muslim countries(who persecute LGBTs) before he pleases us. I’d love to hear some feedback if anyone knows something about this.
[Personally, I think he is a secular person & joined his church to be more politically accepted in the early years. It was a cultural norm for Black leaders to be involved in some church, altho now it isn't as much.]
Isn’t it strange that the most conservative religion(Islam, which is against LGBTs)seems to be protected/defended/ignored by the more liberal politicians, while other religious groups are accused of worse things than they should be?